Vu meter on fx mixer in the red, bad ?

[slapkev]

I do not know how lmms is coded, the fact the color is loaded from a .png file does not say much.
There are no real lights on our desktops.
The coding which decides to what picture to load is important.

I am not sure its not accurate. It seems good enough for me.

The one on the master channel seems rather spot on to me.
It always depends on the sound but red means general distortion.

The color isn't loaded from a png, the color IS a png. This one, to be exact:

LMMS decides how much of that to show based on the general sound level passed through the channel. The problem is that the png (and alignment) is not exact, and any spectrum analyzer worth using will show that. I don't recommend using the spectrum analyzer that is included with LMMS unless you have no other option, as it isn't very accurate either (direct comparison to SPAN and other analyzers I have used).

For now the only advantage I see for some other non free daw, are the presets.
If I find a reason why a song, made with cubase or ableton will sound better then lmms at my pc, I might be willing to switch, but for now my skills are the limiting factor. And midi out is already in the pipeline for lmms.

Additional functionality that you may or may not need. LMMS is missing a lot of industry standard features.

[Gps]

Looking around the net and reading about Carla, I started to wonder something.

Do I understand things right, when I say I could use carla to load vst's just as vestige ?
So blue cat frequency analyzer might work ?

Then it might be worth to try to recompile LMMS, and get Carla in there.
It would also give me a newer zynaddsubfx.

Because at the moment lmms is rock solid stable, at my os ( Linux, openSUSE) I have been putting off the updating.

[slapkev]

I would try to compile the new version beside your current one, just in case there are issues. Carla is linux's version of VST, if I am not mistaken.

[Gps]

Thank you.

[umcaruje]

Carla is linux's version of VST, if I am not mistaken.

No, Carla is so much more. Its a versatile plugin host with advanced routing capabilities. It can also load SF's if you need 'em. It is comparable with FL's Patcher.

[Gps]

Thank you too, learning some thing again.

[andythestrange]

To the OP:
Just out of curiousity, are you using Zynaddsubfx? I've noticed that I can't ever seem to get any preset loud enough from that vsti!

[musikbear]

@andythestrange - There a many .. sorry i meant MANY ways to enhance zasfx output. You can duplicate voices, parts, waves, internal amps, create stacks.. and .. and .. and..
But perhaps the most simple, yet super efficient way is to do like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mFHDyWGh9c

[musikbear]

..rats -have a picture of fx-vu-meter at 0 dB, but it need a 'home' - i will add it later, cause now it is not showing up (another 'little' thing that went away in the upgrade:(
The thing is - clipping occur ~4 'steps' before the meter max out
Thats worth to remember


so here it is - Its not the pulsing bars you should look at, it is the 2 max-lines.
I did this with a limiter, and a clipping meter. This is exactly where the first clipping occur, eg >0dB, and that is a bit before max on the meter

[Gps]

To the OP:
Just out of curiousity, are you using Zynaddsubfx? I've noticed that I can't ever seem to get any preset loud enough from that vsti!

I had that problem with zynaddsubfx, but musicbears video gave me the solution.

I used to record a lot of music on to music cassettes. To get as less noise as possible, you had to record as loud as possible, but, you had to pay attention to the vu meters. A little into the red was fine, but too much gave distortion.

In lmms however it seemed (to my ears) I could go quite a bit into the red before I heard distortion.

Back to that synth, there are amp ( plugins) in lmms. And with the fx mixer you can make sound louder then possible ( without distortion) with just the volume meter on the instrument.